ORIGINAL
QUESTION
Discussion Topic: Business Level Strategy
Visit the websites of two luxury car makers:
- Lincoln
at http://lincoln.com - BMW
at http://www.bmwusa.com
These two automotive giants compete in the same
strategic group. Browse each website and search for each company’s
business-level strategy.
How are the luxury car competitors’ strategies
similar? In what manner are they different? Which company has the competitive
advantage and why?
STUDENT
NUMBER 1 RESPONSE:
Professor and class,
After having reviewed both websites, I have come to
the conclusion that both sites have a similar approach with slight differences
as to how they advertise their front-line models. Lincoln portrays a Spring
theme with blooming trees and rolling hills in their background, while showing
their line-up of cars in the front. (Luxury cars, Crossovers SUVs, n.d.)
BMW takes a similar approach, except instead of portraying the season, they
show a line-up of their popular sports cars featured on a racetrack. The main
site difference I notices is that Lincoln sports quite a few pre-made designs
with options on customizing the color and the interior of their cars. The
options are very limited on how far you can go to customize the car though
whereas you can customize the color of the car, rims, etc. BMW features
near-full customization of their entire car line-up right from the start. Not
only can you customize the color of the cars themselves, but you can customize
everything both inside and outside of the car such as the stereo system,
Bluetooth, type and color of seats, type of dashboard, to color of car on
exterior, type of rims, sunroof/moon roof, and body design.
Price seems to be another major difference between he
two brands. Lincoln tend to be less expensive than BMW, but offers little
customization. Fuel mileage also differs. I find that Lincoln’s on the site are
estimated to get between 16-25mpg, (Luxury cars, Crossovers SUVs, n.d.)
whereas BMW’s get 35mpg or more. (BMW of North America, n.d.) Lincoln seems
to have a focus on a spacious interior as well as a unique look to the
exterior. BMW is concerned with producing as they say “The Ultimate Driving
Machine” (BMW of North America, n.d.) where the car can be tailored to
each of your every needs. We know both brands to have their own reputation,
however I could not find any further information as to the reliability of both
brands. However, it must be an indicator if we are still seeing the old BMW’s
still on the road that people must really like them to continue to be driving
them after this time.
Based on their approach, to me it would appear that
BMW comes off as the better brand. It’s not that I don’t like the look of the
Lincoln cars, however noticed that there is not much to distinguish the brand
apart from being spacious and uniform on design. Lincoln has more of a focus on
creating a more spacious car with little concern on gas mileage whereas BMW
meets both of these requirements. The competitive advantage that I can see for
BMW is that their cars are spacious, fuel efficient (dependent on model), and
offers full customization to really make the car yours which then lives up to
the slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine” (BMW of North America, n.d.);
because the car is what you make it.
References
BMW of North America.
(n.d.). Retrieved from BMW USA: http://www.bmwusa.com/
Luxury cars, Crossovers SUVs.
(n.d.). Retrieved from The Lincoln Motor Company: http://www.lincoln.com/
STUDENT
NUMBER 2 RESPONSE:
Professor and Class,
I felt that the two business strategies were very similar. Both Lincoln and BMW
offer many models of vehicles in their inventory. They both have vehicles that
could be built to the customers needs. They both offered vehicles that began in
the same price range and went up in price depending the type, model, and extras
a customer would need. Both Lincoln and BMW had very appealing and attractive
websites with great graphics and enticing deals. On both websites, a consumer
was able to buy or lease a vehicle of their choosing as well as estimate the
pricing before stepping into a dealer. I believe BMW did have a competitive
advantage over Lincoln because is more of a global company and BMW is bought
and sold all over the world where as Lincoln is more of an American made and
sold vehicle.
References
http://lincoln.com
http://www.bmwusa.com
